Carlos Moya, Nadal's pal and the 1998 champion at Roland Garros, was the 19th opponent for the kid with the clamdiggers at the clay-court Grand Slam - and the 19th to lose. Nadal overwhelmed Moya 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 Wednesday in the quarterfinals to close in on a third consecutive French Open title.

His best is as good as it gets on clay, and he's yet to drop a set in the tournament. Nadal won 16 of the 24 points that lasted at least 10 strokes against Moya and dominated down the stretch, taking the last eight games.

Associated Press

Defending champion Spain's Rafael Nadal reaches for the ball Wednesday as he plays compatriot Carlos Moya during their quarterfinal match of the French Open at Roland Garros stadium.

"It's a little bit painful when you lose a set 6-0," the 23rd-seeded Moya said. "It felt very uncomfortable, and I couldn't do much about it."

Nadal improved to 32-0 in best-of-five-set matches on clay. Next up is No. 6 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who eliminated Igor Andreev of Russia 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to get to his first Grand Slam semifinal.

Djokovic knows what to expect Friday: He quit with a back injury after losing the first two sets against Nadal in last year's French Open quarterfinals.

"He's the best player in the world on this surface," Djokovic said. "He plays with a lot of motivation and confidence. Physically he's very ready."

Some think Nadal, who turned 21 on Sunday, could earn the top spot one day, although there's someone standing in the way at the moment: Roger Federer, who'll play No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the semifinals.

"Phenomenal for such a small country," the 20-year-old Djokovic said. "Especially with no tennis tradition."

He and Andreev were tied at 3-3 when Djokovic began to assert himself, reeling off five consecutive games to go up by a set and a break. He broke again in the final game of the second set and was on his way.

"I was aggressive from the start," Djokovic said, "and that was the key."

Djokovic's all-around game led to 52 forced errors by Andreev, who is ranked 125th and knocked off No. 3 Andy Roddick in the first round.

Suffice it to say, Djokovic made an impression.

"He has no bad shots. He does everything very well," Andreev said. "Defending very well, serving very well. Mentally, he is so strong for a young age."

The same could be said of Nadal, who marveled Wednesday about just how long he's already been on the pro circuit.

"Five years? Unbelievable. Very old," he said with a smile. "On the tour, very old. But the age is not."

Moya is 30, but it's not as though the disparity played much of a role. Instead, it was, as usual, Nadal's ability to track down ball after ball, and his high-bouncing, full-of-spin forehand, a shot two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt called "quite amazing" after losing to the Spaniard in the fourth round.

Nadal also hurt Moya by repeatedly going after his backhand, particularly with serves. That's part of the reason Nadal faced only four break points, saving three.

They met back when Nadal was 12, and even Moya has been wowed by the progress his buddy's made.

"I knew that he was going to have a good career," Moya said, "but nobody expected him to be as good as he is right now."